Collective mining of Bayesian networks from distributed heterogeneous data

We present a collective approach to learning a Bayesian network from distributed heterogeneous data. In this approach, we first learn a local Bayesian network at each site using the local data. Then each site identifies the observations that are most likely to be evidence of coupling between local and non-local variables and transmits a subset of these observations to a central site. Another Bayesian network is learnt at the central site using the data transmitted from the local site. The local and central Bayesian networks are combined to obtain a collective Bayesian network, which models the entire data. Experimental results and theoretical justification that demonstrate the feasibility of our approach are presented.